Baby News

Weaning My Baby: My Thoughts

Monday 25th of March 2013  |  Category: Baby News  |  Written by: Aaron Clifford

Our Story So Far

In December 2012 my wife and I were lucky enough to be blessed with a beautiful little girl who has just turned four months old; she has been restless between bottles over the past two weeks and we often have found it more difficult to settle her during this time. Our daughter was born a month premature so when visiting the specialist at the doctor for our follow up appointment from the special care unit I asked the question "When can our baby start to eat food?" The answer we got from him was fairly simple however it did conflict the NHS "You and your baby at 16 weeks" email that I received this morning.

a baby being fed

Talking to parents, friends and other family everyone had an opinion about when and how they did it, but for me I think it's just about when your baby is ready. The specialist said to us that our daughter could start on baby rice from four months and this morning we decided to try her at breakfast. At first she was attempting to suck on the spoon like it was her bottle however she quickly became aware of what was happening and finished off the suggested amount.

As a father and an active staff member on a network of parenting websites I get to read all the guidelines along with getting the perspective of a health visitor and Doctors; I've attended every appointment that we have had regarding our daughter pre and post natal and have found the different views of different health care professionals interesting.

The Guidelines

According to the NHS Websites article on solid food weaning introducing your baby to any food should only start at around six months, however for me taking the advice of a Doctor or health care visitor who is sat in a room with you looking at your baby was always more important to me than reading some fairly basic guidelines off of the NHS website. The guidelines for me are there to do what they say "guide", It's not going to be right for everyone all of the time as every baby is different.

My opinion is that when your baby is ready to start weaning they will let you know, some of the suggested signs on the NHS website are:

  1. Once they are able to stay in a sitting position and hold their head steady.
  2. That they can co-ordinate their hands, mouth and eyes so they are able to look at their food, be able to pick the food up and be able to put it in their mouths.
  3. Once they can swallow food. Babies who are not ready for weaning will often push the food back out, more often than not resulting in more on their face and bib that in their tummies!

I guess at the end of the day you as parents will know when it's time for your little bundle of joy to start eating food, it's always best to follow the guidelines to a point but you know your baby better than anyone else. Our content "When Can I Wean My Baby?" follows the world health organisation and department of health suggestions that you should wait until six months, but of course this blog post is just our own personal preference for our baby.

I am keen to hear your views on weaning, I'd love to hear when you started weaning with your baby; Started too early? Started too late?


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